The painter in Congress Square would finish faster if you’d stop asking so many questions

Painter, illustrator and teacher Kerrin Parkinson stops to answer a passerby’s question while transforming an ordinary utility box into a work of art in Portland’s Congress Square on Tuesday. Parkinson said she doesn’t mind the interruptions but she’d be done twice as fast without them. Troy R. Bennett | BDN

Painter, illustrator and teacher Kerrin Parkinson stops to answer a passerby’s question while transforming an ordinary utility box into a work of art in Portland’s Congress Square on Tuesday. Parkinson said she doesn’t mind the interruptions but she’d be done twice as fast without them. Troy R. Bennett | BDN

Painter, illustrator and teacher Kerrin Parkinson is one of five artists chosen by Portland’s Public Art Committee to spruce up the plain, black utility boxes dotting the city. Today, Parkinson touched up her creation in Congress Square while while being peppered with questions from people passing by.

She took each interruption in stride, saying making art in public — for the public — was like a musician playing in front of an audience. Then, she bent back over her brush for about a minute-and-a-half, until the next question came.

Troy R. Bennett

About Troy R. Bennett

Troy R. Bennett is a Buxton native and longtime Portland resident whose photojournalism has appeared in media outlets all over the world.